Chapter Text
The sun rose in all its glory, painting the sky a beautiful banner of warm colors to welcome the new day — but she was also quite sure it was mocking her. In fact, the sun was kind of a dick.
She groaned and rolled over in bed. For a second, she thought about pulling the covers over her head and hiding as if she had the power to stop the sun simply by pretending it didn’t exist. She stared up, watching the morning light meander onto the ceiling.
Nearby a rooster crowed.
With absolutely monumental effort she got out of bed, every muscle and joint in her body screaming in protest. She was sore in places she didn’t know could be sore, sore in ways that didn’t even make sense. However, sore or not, it was up to her to keep this farm going.
“C’mon Brynn, you can do this.” She whispered to herself in the mirror. Tired, large eyes stared back at her. Her bags had bags. With a soft sigh, she pulled her untamed brown hair up into a messy ponytail and tried, without success, to tuck in some of the fly aways. Oh well, not like she needed to be fancy for the chickens anyways.
Ten minutes later she was dressed and standing on her front porch, hot coffee in hand.
Many thoughts raced through her mind. I’ve made a huge mistake and what was I even thinking seemed to be her brain's current favorites. In her black long sleeve shirt and overalls, Brynn felt like a gigantic fraud. Her body gave a small shiver as a light morning breeze tickled her neck. Quickly, she dipped inside and grabbed her plaid jacket off the floor.
Well, at least now I’m a warm fraud.
Brynn had never been a “country girl”, large open spaces actually made her nervous. She’d grown up in the city, but this area wasn’t completely foreign to her. In her mind, she conjured up images of her grandfather’s farm in its hay day. Crops growing abundantly, animals contentedly grazing, the warm sunshine that lit up her young face during long summer vacations she wished would never end.
Instead, she had inherited a plot of land covered in trash, trees, thick underbrush, and more rocks than a gravel driveway. The sun, which had been so eager to wake her up earlier, decided maybe it had actually been too early and slipped behind thick clouds for a nap. All of the promise of warmth disappeared with it. Brisk spring air nipped at her nose.
“Please don't rain…” she muttered into her coffee mug.
It had taken her nearly four days to clear a plot of land large enough to even attempt to get some planting done. Weeks later all she had to show for it were some sad daisies, barely passable lettuce, and potatoes that she liked to imagine were growing beautifully, but in reality were probably withering away under ground.
What was I even thinking?
After a few hours, the sun sauntered out from its hiding place. Brynn pulled her jacket off and tied it around her waist, wiping the sweat from her brow. “Another one done!” She exclaimed, tossing a bag full of trash onto a pile of its twins.
She placed her hands on her hips and beamed. It’d taken way longer than she thought but the last of the trash was all bagged up. Pride swelled in her chest as she mentally crossed “clean up trash” off her checklist.
How did all of this even get here anyways? She pondered. Was someone using this place as a dumping ground? No, everyone here seemed too respectful and kind to do that. The farm had been abandoned for so long it must have accumulated slowly over time, little bits blown in here and there by the wind.
A wet nose pressed into her hand. Sweet brown eyes looked up at her expectantly. Without hesitation, she crouched down and ruffled the dog’s ears, putting her forehead to his.
“Who’s a good boy? Are you done with your chores? Are the chickens sufficiently terrorized?”
Bode didn’t answer with words, but his eyes spoke volumes. He sat down and pawed at her forearm.
“Okay, lunch time, got it. Let’s go see what we can get into.”
Brynn had always wanted a dog but between her cramped apartment and long, variable work hours it just wasn’t possible. However, all of the luck that had missed her regarding the condition of the farm had been instead used to summon Bode.
She didn’t adopt him so much as he stumbled into her life and decided to stick around. The second week she was here there was a great ruckus outside, chickens clucking frantically and Nugget, the rooster, sounded livid. With a speed that surprised even her, she ran over to find Bode attempting to herd them back into the run down coop.
Nugget was having none of it. He scratched at the ground spitting with territorial anger, puffed out his chest and flapped his wings in a successful attempt to make himself look much larger. Bode appeared more confused than scared, smartly decided it wasn’t worth the fight, caught her smell on the wind and chose to investigate that instead.
The rest was history. Brynn welcomed her new roommate with open arms. After checking with the local animal shelter to make sure there were no missing dogs fitting his description, the adoption was made final.
“The late rent I can forgive but I’m gonna need you to start chipping in on groceries.” She scratched under his chin. His adoption certificate said “collie-mix” but “bottomless black hole” would’ve been more appropriate.
“Oh, hmm. Right.” She rummaged through the cabinets, taking stock of everything she had. Half an onion, a handful of dried beans, and some questionable sauces. On the counter there was a note reminding her to get more groceries but she had been so exhausted yesterday she barely had the energy to crawl into bed, let alone make her way to the grocery store.
“Well, looks like we’ll need to make a trip to Sam’s.”